Thinking about becoming a nurse? It’s not a bad choice. Nursing provides a rewarding career with a stable income and solid future. However, it’s no cake walk becoming one of those angels in scrubs. In order to become a nurse, you have to get into nursing school, and this process can be a truly grueling one. Not everyone is cut out to be a nurse, and nursing programs design their admittance process to weed out individuals who probably aren’t suited for the position. Luckily, here are a few tips to apply to nursing schools. Follow these steps, and you might up your chances!

First and foremost, you should prepare. While one could, theoretically, decide at a random point in their lives that they want to go to nursing school, it’s usually more difficult to get into a program at that point. To begin with, you must have your GED to even consider applying. However, a successful applicant must take many other things into consideration. As a part of the medical community, nurses are held to standards similar to doctors and surgeons in that a strong emphasis is put on math and science. If you’re in high school, it’s very important that you get good grades in your classes pertaining to these subjects. If you’re truly interested in nursing programs, you might want to consider choosing electives that could be helpful in the field, such as anatomy, advanced biology, or the like. These classes look impressive on an application. Finally, you must score well on your ACT and/or SAT. To nursing schools, these scores indicate your ability to absorb information, which is critical when you’re treating a patient. These tips to apply to nursing schools will really give you an edge when it comes to being compared to other potential applicants.

Next, you’ve got to stand out on your application. While people may give you all sorts of tips to apply to nursing schools, this is the most important one. Individuals going through applications are constantly bored by the same old essay responses. Candidates often say they want to go into nursing to “help people” or “give back,” and while these answers aren’t bad, they are typical. Tell a story in your essays. Paint a picture of the person you are through example, and prove that you already have the makings of a great nurse. This is a chance to make up for less than fabulous algebra grades or a lower science score on your standardized tests than you would have liked.

So you want to go to nursing school? Follow these tips to apply to nursing schools, and you’ll already be ahead of the other candidates going through the same process. Good grades, scores, and storytelling will get your foot in the door.